Recording clock mechanism.



C. L. KENNICOTT.

RECORDING CLOCK MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1915.

1,167,902, Patented Jan.11,191 6.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

7.58AM 31 8. AM 187 1/. Qim

C. L. KENNICOTT.

RECORDING CLOCK MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.22,1915- 1,167,902, v Patented Jan. 11E,1r 1916. 2 suzns-suz 2.

IlllllllIlIllli I II/I/I/I/I/I/II/I/I/ COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0,, WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

CASS L. KENNICOTT, or CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IQLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE KENNICOTT COMPANY, or CHICAGO HEIGHTS,-ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

RECORDING CLOCK MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 22, 1915. serial No. 16,156.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Cass L. KENNICOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago Heights, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Recording 'Clock Mechanism, of wh ch the following is a specification. 1

My invention relates to improvements in recording clock mechanism and more particularly to an apparatus of this kind suitable for keeping records of workmens time. I

strumentality used in operating the 'mechanism.

More particularly it may be stated that it is the object of my invention to provide a machine operable by a hand-stampto simultaneously imprint upon a tape the characters on the stamp and in registry therewith the time at which the tape was stamped.

My invention will be more readily understood from the following description of one specific embodiment of the same. In this description reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which mechanism of my invention. This mecha'-' Figure 1 is a front elevationbf; a clock, record ng mechanism, and stamp-plugbox; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a stamp-plug; Fig. 3 is a broken section of a length of tape showing themanner in which'the clock and stamp print upon thetape; Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the printing mechanism; and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 of Figs. 1 and 4. 7

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a frame which may be supported on the wall by brackets 11 and comprises a double row of plug-boxes or pigeonholes 12 which mayv conveniently be mounted on either side of a clock 13. Below the latter and'housed with-' in the casing 14 is the tape and printing nism comprises a tape drum or reel 15 suitably ournaled in the casing 14 and carrying a length of tape which issues from the up per surface of the casing 14 through an aperture 16 therein, passes from the aperture horizontally across the upper face 17 of the casing and between a pair of feed-rolls 18, 19, the former of which is mounted on the upper surface of the casing, as by a bracket 20, and the latter of which is mounted with- 1n the casing and bears upon the tape through an aperture 21 in the upper casing wall 17. From the feed-rolls 18, 19 the tape which is designated by 22, enters an aperture 23 formed in the upper surface of the casing and passes downwardly into a chamber 24, from which it may be removed at convenient intervals through a hinged d or 25 w'hichopens into the chamber24. From Figs. 4 and 5 it will be-seen that the central portion of the upper casing wall 17 is cut away to expose an inner housing 26.5 This housing rests upon the bottom wall or floor of. the casing 14 and is provided at its'upper end with an overhanging arm '27 which lies flush with the upper surface ofthe casing 'wall 17. Back of the arm 27 the casing 26 is cut away as shown at 28to expose four type wheels 29, the type surface of which are approximately flush with the. upper surface of the arm 27. -These type wheels. it will be understood, are suitably journaled within the casing 26 and are designed to be actuatedelectrically or mechani'callv by any suitable connections with the clock 13, so that the wheels will revolve either constantly or intermittently under the control of the clock.

Such timegstainping type-wheels controlled bv clocks are well known in the art and since this portlon of the apparatus forms no part of my invention except in so far as it co-.

operates broadly with the other features of the apparatus, I have not shown any specific form of mechanism for-mounting or moving the type-wheels from the clock. As will be noted from Figs. 4 and 5, the tape 22 is of the approximate width of the upper end of the inner casing 26, so that about half of the tape passes over the type-wheels 29 while the other or front half passes over the overhanging arm 27 Back of the inner casing 26 which houses the type-wheels there is mounted a hollow standard 30 within which telescopes 'a plug" Patented Jan. 11, 1 916.

31, which carries at its upper end an arm 32. The arm 32 in turn carries an over hanging plate 33, which is normally maintained in spaced relation to the tape 22 by a compression spring 3s'seated within the hollow standard 30 and urging the plug 31 upwardly therein. The plate 33 has the inner or rear portion of its surface slightly raised, as indicated at 35, the raised portion lying over the typewheels 29 while the outer or front portion of the plate is slotted centrally as shown at 36, the slot lying above the overhanging arm 27 of the casing 26. Referring to Fig. 4-, it will be seen that on ither side of the slot 36 plate 33 is provided with slots 37 which extend the full depth of the plate. These slots serve to secure a printing .ribbon 38, which is carried by spools 39, 40 mounted in suitable brackets 41 on the upper face of the casing 1 1. As will be seen from Fi g. l, the ribbon is woven through the slots 37 so as to lie over the under surface of the plate 33 at its central portion. The spool 410 is driven, as will later appear, in such a manner as to feed the ribbon across the face of the plate 33. Gn the rear side of the plug 31, which slides within the hollow standard 30, there is mounted a pin 42 which is adapted to move up and down within the slot 43 formed in the wall of the standard 30. This pin ongages the slotted end 4 1-. of a bell crank lever 45 suitably journaled as by a pintel 16 carried by the rear casing wall and having an arm 17 to which is connected a link 18. The link 48, which may conveniently he formed of a strip of sheet-metal or plate metal, has outturned lugs 19, which are perforated to receive the lower ends of a pair of oscillating levers 51, 52 respectively. The lever 52 may have a stop 53 secured on its projecting end to support the link 18. The levers 51, 52 are designed to operate the ribbon spool 40 and the feed roll 19 respectively. This result is accomplished by providing the spool and the roll with ratchet wheels 54, respectively, with which spring-pressed pawls 56, 57 respectively may coiiperate in order to turn their respective ratchet wheels upon oscillating movement of the levers.

The stamping plug which is designed for use in connection with the apparatus shown in Figs. 4 and 5 comprises a generally rectangular body portion 59, the stamping face of which has a rectangular boss 60 raised from its surface and-carrying the identifying characters, designated 61,- as shown in F ig. 2 of the drawings. The stamp plug will be provided with an ordinary handle 62. As-shown in Fig. l, I design my stamp plugs to be of varying widths, this feature being essential to their operation in connection with my integrating apparatus as disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 1.6105, filed Mar. 26, 1915. For the purposes of the present invention, however, it is only essential that the bosses 60 on the lower faces of the various stamping plugs be of equal size, such size being that of the slot 35 in the plate The operation of my invention is as follows: It will be understood that one of the plugs 59 will be pro *ided in its proper pigeonhole or box for each workman or employee, or if the apparatus be used for other purposes than recording workmens time, then a. separate plug will be provided for each identifying character it desired to print upon the tape. Assuming that the apparatus is being used for the purpose of keeping workmens time rocords, the workman on entering the shop in the morning will withdraw his plug from its place in the plug boxes 12 and will then place it in position on the top of the plate 33, as indicated in Figs. l and 5. lVhen so placed the boss (30 on the bottom or printing face of the plug will pass through the slot 36 so as to expose the printing characters 61 below the lower face of the plate. The plug having been inserted in its position the workman will now pressdownwardly on the handle of the plug, thereby forcing the plate downward until it engages the tape It will be noted that the type-wheels 29 will at this time bear firmly against the lower face of the tape and press the latter against the rib bon 38 and against the raised portion of the lower surface of the plate Since the printing ribbon lies above the tape 22 the characters of the type-wheels will be printed upon the upper face of the tape 22 even though these type-wheels themselves are mounted below this tape. This I regard as an important structural feature of my invention, 2 0., the fact that the type-wheels are beneath the tape and the stamping plug above the tape, and both print upon the same face of the tape, that is, the upper face. The arrangement of the ribbon and tape which permits of this action I deem to be an im' portant structural advantage of my apparatus. Simultaneously with the downward movement of the plate 33 the bell crank 45 will be oscillated through the pin 1-2 and bv means of the ink connection 18 the levers 51, 52 will be swung about their pivots. The lever 51 has its pawl so arranged with reference to the ratchet teeth as to slide idly over the latter on the downward stroke of the plate 33, while the pawl 57 of the arm 52 engages the ratchet teeth on the feed-roll 19 to revolve the latter on its downward stroke, thus positively feeding the tape from the reel 15 across the face of the recording apparatus. lVhen the pressure on the upper surface of the plate 33 is relieved the spring 34; will raise it to the normal position shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and in this return movement the :ratchet 5% will be engaged by the pawl 56 to feed the ribbon from the spool 39 to the spool 40. On each downward stroke of the plate 33, therefore, the tape is fed,'and on each upward or return stroke of the plate, the ribbon is fed. Brakes39 and may beapplied to the spool 39 and reel 1'5re- I spectively to prevent them from overrunning, By the operation described above a recordwill be made upon the tape, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, that is, on one 1 edge of the tape the type-wheels will imprint the time of operation and on the other edge of the tape opposite the time record will appear the number or other identification mark of the plug which was used in operating the apparatus. The tape may be removed from the box once a day or oftener as may be convenient, and will form a permanent record of the workmens time. It will benoted, also, that the arrangement of the stamping plate 33 is such that when the latter is in its normalor raised position there is. a clear view ofthe tape 22 fromthe front of the machine. The accuracy of the time printed on the tape and the clearness of this time stamp and of the workmens number stamp may, therefore, be determined by inspecti on as soon as the plate is released. The,

machine is, therefore, of what is known as the visible type, i. the printed record made by the machine may be read as soon as the printing mechanism is released .and

without removing'the tape or record sheet from the apparatus.

WVhile I have shown and described in considerable detail one specific embodiment of my invention, it is to be undestood that such showing and description is illustrativeonly and for the purpose of making my invention more clear, and that I do not regard my invention as limited to the specific details nor ,7, to any of them except in so far as I have ineluded such limitations within the terms of 'against, a printing ribbon interposed between'said type members and said strikerplate, and type members carried by said striker-plate, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the-said sheet, whereby. both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

2. In a printing machine a stationary platen, type members carried by the said platen and having their printing surfaces flush with the plane surfaceof said platen, a movable platen having a striker surface opposed'to the typesurfaces of said stationary platen to press a sheet to be printed thereagainst, type members mounted in said movable platen opposed to the plane surface of the stationary platen, and a printing ribbon interposed between said stationary and movable platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

3. In a printing machine and in combination, a stationary platen, type members carried by said platen and having their printing surfaces flush with the same, a movable platen opposed to said stationaryplaten to press a sheet to be printed thereagainst, means for mounting type members in said movable platen and opposed to the flush surface of said stationary platen, and a printing ribbon interposed between the said platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

4. Ina printing machine and in combination, a stationary platen, type members carried by said platen and having their printing surfaces flush therewith, a movable platen opposed to said stationary platen and having a striker surface opposed to the type surfaces ofsaid stationary platen to press a sheet to be printed thereagainst, means for mounting type members in said movable platen with their printing surfaces opposed to the plane surface of said stationary platen, and a printing ribbon carried by said movable platen and lying between the said movable and stationary platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

5. In a printing machine a stationary platen,'time-controlled type members carried by said stationary platen and with their printing surfaces flush therewith, a movableplaten having a striker surface opposed to the printing surfaces of said type members to press a sheet to be printed thereagainst, means for mounting type members in said movable platen and with their printing surfaces flush with the striker surface thereof and opposed to the plane surface of the said stationary platen, and

a printing ribbon carried by said movable platen and lying between said movable and stationary platens, the said printing rib bon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

6. In a printing machine a frame, a stationary platen mounted in the frame, type members mounted in the frame with their printing surfaces flush with the surface of said platen, means for feeding a record sheet across the face of the said platen and type members, a movable platen spaced away from the face of said stationary platen and having a striker surface opposed to the printing surfaces of said type members, type members carried by said movable platen and having their printing surfaces flush with the striker surface thereof and opposed to the said stationary platen, and a printing ribbon interposed between said movable and stationary platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

7. In a printing machine a frame, a stationary platen carried by said frame, type members carried by said frame and with their printing surfaces flush with the surface of the said platen, a movable platen carried by the said frame and mounted for movement toward and away from said stationary platen, said movable platen having a striking surface opposed to the printing surfaces of said type members, type members removably mounted in said movable platen and having their printing surfaces flush with the striker surface thereof and opposed to the surface of said stationary platen, a printing ribbon interposed betwen the two platens, and means operable by the movement of said movable platen for feeding a record sheet between the opposed surfaces of the stationary and movable platen, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, wherebv both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

8. In a printing machine, a frame, a stationary platen carried by the said frame, time controlled type members mounted in the said frame and with their printing surfaces flush with the surface of the said platen, a movable platen mounted in the said frame for movement toward and away from the surface of said stationary platen, the said movable platen having a striking surface opposed to the printing surfaces of the said type members, a type member removably mounted in the said movable platen and with its printing surface flush with the surface thereof and opposed to the surface of said stationary platen, a record sheet and a printing ribbon interposed between the said platens, and means operable by the movement of said movable platen for feeding the said record sheet and printing ribbon transversely over the face of the said platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

9. In a printing machine, a frame, a stationary platen mounted in the frame, time controlled type members having their printing surfaces flush with the surface of said platen, a movable platen mounted for reciprocation in the said frame toward and away from the said stationary platen, said movable platen having a striking surface opposed to the printing surfaces of the said type members to press a sheet to be printed thereagainst, and having an aperture op posed to the surface of the said stationary platen, a stamp plug mounted on the said movable platen and having its printing surface projecting through the said aperture to .lie iiush with the striker surface of the said platen, and a printing ribbon interposed between the said stationary and movable platens, the said printing ribbon having its operative length lying wholly on one face of the said sheet, whereby both of the said sets of type members print upon the same face of the said sheet.

CASS L. KENNICOTT.

In presence of L. HEIsLAR, TC. ONEILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). C. 

